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Had a lot of interest in my post last week regarding post-default class discovery (although not as much interest as we’ve had in our YouTube channel recently–yikes that thing is EXPLODING.)
Apparently a number of companies had considered this oddball strategy.
And wouldn’t you know it, another decision came out on this exact issue the very next day.
In Rashely v. Benefits Now, LLC, 2025 WL 2884484 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 9, 2025) the defendant defaulted–i.e. failed to show up with a lawyer to defend it in the case– and the plaintiff asked the court to conduct class discovery.
The court permitted the discovery noting that plaintiff needed it to seek class certification, which would be permitted against the defendant:
Courts have frequently granted such discovery in TCPA cases. See, e.g., id. (granting plaintiff’s request to conduct limited class certification discovery in a TCPA case in which a default had been entered against the defendant); Ulery, 2022 WL 17484665, at *1 (same); Leo v. Classmoney.net, No. 18-80813, 2019 WL 238548, at *2 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 10, 2019) (same); Cranor v. Skyline Metrics, LLC, No. 18-00621, 2018 WL 11437828, at *1 (W.D. Mo. Dec. 14, 2018) (same); Eder v. Aspen Home Improvements Inc., No. 20-1306, 2020 WL 6870851, at *2 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 2, 2020) (same). In Leo, the district court explained that “[i]t would be unjust to prevent Plaintiff from attempting to demonstrate the elements for certification of a class without the benefit of discovery, due to [defendant’s] failure to participate in this case.” Leo, 2019 WL 238548, at *2. However, when granting leave to conduct such discovery, courts have underlined that such discovery should be “limited … to determine whether class certification is proper and to evaluate the extent of the damages.” Cranor, 2018 WL 11437828, at *1
So there you go.
You aren’t going to duck out of class discovery by failing to appear in a case. And where class discovery is permitted against a defaulted defendant, class certification and a class judgment won’t be far behind.
We’ll keep an eye on this.
